Octogenarian scribe Rekha Duggal (81) was murdered in cold blood by her servant at home in upscale Greater Kailash-II on Monday night. Her 21-year-old servant Neeraj was harbouring evil intentions and he tried to sexually assault her on Saturday evening. Frail and defenceless, Rekha Duggal could not bear the agony and fainted. Neeraj then doused petrol on her when she was lying unconscious and set her on fire. The accused thought police would take it as accidental death but his lie was nailed by the autopsy report. Police is also investigating robbery as a motive as Rekha Duggal’s daughter had visited her on Sunday for lunch and is believed to have given her mother Rs5 lakh towards her expenses.
Rekha Duggal’s husband KK Duggal was editor of United News of India (UNI) and had died in 2005. Her servant, Neeraj (21), who allegedly throttled her to death, had tried to cook up a perfect alibi. Her neighbour Saroj Prakash called up Rekha’s son-in-law Manmohan saying his mother-in-law had gone missing. A senior police official said, “Neeraj told Saroj Prakash that Rekha had gone to the park and had not returned,” he said.
Narrating the sequence of events, Manmohan said he received a call from the residents around 9 pm stating that Neeraj had told them that Rekha had not returned home after her evening walk. “I immediately left home in Press Enclave. We also informed police along the way. When we reached, the beat constable of the area had reached as well. We gave photographs of my mother to check at parks. Neeraj constantly claimed he had checked the house, parks and the terrace and could not find her anywhere,” said Manmohan.
Neeraj had also told neighbours that he had informed Rekha’s second daughter Anu luthra over phone her mother had gone missing. Sadhana Mohan, Rekha Duggal’s first daughter, went to the first floor and opened the house with her set of keys. “The house was filled with smoke and visibility was zero. I ran out and called my husband who told the police officials who were downstairs. The fire brigade came in. 45 minutes later when the smoke had thinned out we saw our mother lying charred in bed in the third room with a dupatta around her neck,” said Sadhana.
Sadhana and her husband Manmohan (former editor of Tribune) tried to enter the room but could not do so as the first floor was enveloped by smoke. Manmohan called the fire brigade to his mother-in-law’s house at S-93, GK-II. It took 45 minutes for the firemen to clear the smoke and they were shocked to see Rekha Duggal in that State.
She was dead and rigor mortis had set in. She was rushed to All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where she was pronounced dead on arrival. South-East district police officers noticed ligature marks on her neck suggesting she was strangled to death. Neeraj was picked up by police along with Rekha’s cook Bhuvan. Neeraj and Bhuvan were hired around eight months back through a family friend. Preliminary investigations had revealed that Neeraj had killed Rekha Duggal after finding her alone on the first floor of the house. The second floor was sold to a builder while the third floor of the house is rented out to a foreigner. A case under appropriate Sections of Indian Penal Code has been registered at CR Park police station.